someone singing. The voice was rich and beautiful, and it belonged to Cade.
Delicious shivers shot down her spine. She listened for a moment before turning on the shower over the big claw-foot tub. She pulled the curtain around to keep the water from drenching the floor.
Cade was on the other side of the wall. Even with the water running she could hear his humming. Why did the man affect her so?
It’s an infatuation.
How long has it been since you’ve been on a date? Too long.
Patience showered quickly, turning on a cold blast of water at the end to send her traitorous body a message. She had to focus on what was most important—the case. With the towel wrapped around her she stepped out just as her phone rang.
It was the sheriff.
“Dr. Clark, heard you were over at the courthouse this afternoon, thought I’d check up on you.”
“Thanks, Sheriff. I should have come to see you first. Do you have a minute for me to ask you something?”
“Certainly. What’s up?”
She told him about the courthouse. “I was wondering if you might have the files? If so, we’d like to come pick them up.”
“Sorry, I haven’t seen them, but that is curious. You checked several boxes and those were the only ones you found missing?”
“Yes,” she said as she shimmied into her panties.
“I did some digging myself. Joseph Randall, Cade’s father, was the water commissioner back then, but he also worked in the deeds department. At the time, our courthouse was a small operation and everyone helped out when necessary.”
“Water commissioner? I’d imagine water’s a big deal around here, where there are so many ranches.”
“Yep,” he said. “You know, those missing files may be in a storage facility outside of town. The old courthouse was a mess five years ago and they moved a lot of stuff out. I’ll check into it and let you know.”
Before returning to search the records she figured she should speak with Cade’s grandmother to get some background about her son’s business as the water commissioner.
Well, I’m learning as I go.
Now, grilling the woman wouldn’t be her best option. Patience wasn’t always known for her tact, but she knew she needed to approach Dorothy with kindness. Maybe she could ask about Cade as a child and what he was like before his father disappeared.
She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment. You have to be patient. What was it Katie had told her? That one sentence could change the entire way one looked at a case. She needed to keep her ears open and talk as casually as possible with those involved. And not push too hard for answers. People clammed up that way, Katie had reminded her.
Her friends often joked that her name was a misnomer. In her lab, Patience always took her time, but when it came to the rest of her life—well, she had a way of being abrupt and saying exactly what was on her mind. She didn’t have time for the games people often played. And to be honest she didn’t understand them. Unfortunately, from what her friends had warned, game play was a part of solving cases. Often a cat-and-mouse game.
Given what she’d seen already, her direct way wouldn’t work to her advantage here.
There was a knock on the door. “Are you ready?” Cade asked.
She quickly slipped on her T-shirt. “Yes, I’ll meet you downstairs.” Her mind shifted to the sound of his beautiful voice as he’d been singing.
She turned toward the shower wondering if she might need another cold spray. Patience was dressed, but she wasn’t sure about being ready for whatever it was Cade might offer her.
4
“I HAVE TO SOLVE THIS CASE quickly and get out of this town,” Patience said as they left the B and B and stepped onto the sidewalk. She picked up speed as she hit the concrete for their walk to the courthouse.
Cade glanced at her sharply. “Why? I thought you enjoyed dinner. Did GG say something while I was upstairs?”
Laying a hand on his arm, she smiled. “No, I adore her. The food was incredible, but that’s why. A few more days of eating like this, and you’ll have to roll me out of town. I thought I might pop the zipper on my jeans before we even finished the meal.”
Your jeans look just fine. The way they hugged her slightly rounded behind and showed off her legs.
Cade stopped. He shouldn’t be thinking like this. He had to concentrate, get back to Austin. The merger.
Taking her hand, he tucked it in the crook of his elbow. He had to confess he was relieved by her joking about leaving town. Throughout dinner she’d talked mainly to GG, and Patience had charmed them with her openness and honesty.
“I love food, too,” Cade said honestly. “I’m usually a nut about eating healthy and exercise. Of course, all that flies out the window when I smell my grandmother’s cooking. But I plan to work it all off at the ranch this trip.”
“I’d like to see it.”
“The ranch?”
She nodded. “I’ve never been to a real working ranch.”
“Sure, although I don’t exactly have it working just yet. But my foreman and I are at least making some headway. I’ll take you out there anytime you want to go. But no judgments. The old house where I spent part of my childhood looks pretty beat-up on the outside, though the inside really isn’t so bad.”
The house had been in the family for more than eighty years, and his grandmother and all her sisters and brothers had been born there. His father had also been born and raised in the house.
Cade had to clear this throat. His father was the good man his grandmother always claimed him to be. She and Cade’s mother were the only people in town who had believed his father hadn’t run off with some woman.
“Cade?”
“What?”
Cocking her head, Patience watched him carefully with those beautiful green eyes of hers. “You look upset.”
He forced a smile. “Sorry, I was thinking about my dad. His reputation was maligned by most of the town. Eventually, I even believed the rumors. Now I feel so guilty for all the mean words I said about him. I hated him for so long and now—”
“You were a kid, that couldn’t have been easy.”
“No, for the first couple of months I caused my mom and grandmother so much grief. Fistfights every day, and I was small so I came home with a lot of black eyes.”
“You were defending your family and I find that quite honorable.”
Cade took a deep interest in the dust sprinkling the top of his boots. There was absolutely nothing honorable about the thoughts he’d had
